


Business as Usual

by junko



Series: Senbonzakura's Song [5]
Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-08 03:54:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1128027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junko/pseuds/junko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Renji and Byakuya continue to try to settle back into the routine of life in the Soul Society, but their efforts are thwarted on all fronts... including an unexpected one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Business as Usual

**Author's Note:**

> I have to thank Josey (cestus) for her usual help beta-ing and typo-spotting and all the rest.
> 
> It's sort of funny that I've named this series Senbonzakura's Song and Byakuya has yet to take the lead point of view. But, as Renji will, unfortunately be headed out soon, I'm sure he'll get more than his fair share.

Renji thought Byakuya sounded slightly incredulous when he asked, “You think violence will solve all my problems?”

With a nod, Renji said, “Actually, yeah. This time, I do. I mean, if your family is mad because you didn’t come down hard enough on me, what’s the difference to them between lieutenant or third seat, really?” 

Renji sat cross-legged on the floor of Byakuya’s private office at the estate, with a basket of something growing uncomfortably warm on his shins. It smelled a bit like ochazuke, which was making Renji’s stomach sit up and beg noisily

Byakuya poured himself a bowl of tea. He glanced up at a particularly loud gurgle and said, “No need to stand on ceremony, Renji. We’re in private.”

Gratefully, Renji pulled the top off the basket. He was happy to see it was, in fact, a bit of tea soaked leftover rice with a dollop of salty shiokara on top. Eishiro must have let the cook know not to bother with anything fancy. Perfect, and exactly what Renji was craving. After finding the chopsticks, he dug in. 

Byakuya watched Renji eat. After a moment, he said, “Perhaps you’re right. I must steel myself to comments and insinuations about you, at any rate. A show of ruthlessness might just be the thing. Blood would satisfy my cousin’s father and it would be a warning to any other potential deserters or betrayers.”

It was weirdly sexy to hear Byakuya talk like that, even as it sent a stab of fear right into Renji’s core… since, you know, ‘deserter’ had once applied to him and Renji knew what Byakuya was like when he went all out against someone. Renji swallowed his rice with difficulty, especially at the thought of getting to be at his captain’s side when Byakuya was meting out justice like that. “Yeah,” Renji agreed encouragingly, “Plus, it’ll be satisfying as fuck.”

A tiny smile tugged at Byakuya’s lips. “I do believe you may be right.”

Renji nodded, getting more than a little excited at the thought of actually going out on a hunt with Byakuya again. It’d been awhile, and the last time was the disastrous and humiliating run-in with Ichigo. It’d be a pleasure to watch Byakuya take down the Third. Even more fun if Byakuya let Renji get in a bit of warm-up thrashing. 

Rukia’d be sniffing around any time now, anxious to go after Ichigo. But, how long would it take to find Miisho, anyway? Probably, the damn fool was holed up in one of the teahouses Byakuya’d given him. Heh, it’d be a pleasure to accidentally trash the place looking for him, too. 

Zabimaru chuckled wickedly--a deep rumble, like a bass beat that vibrated against Renji’s sternum.

“Now that that’s settled, tell me what happened with Seichi,” Byakuya said.

“Oh, uh…” Renji set the bowl back in his lap and tried to figure out what to say. “Um, well, see, I never got a chance to see your healer with all the stuff with the supply train, and so I guess the thought of me having kinky sex broke him a little.”

Byakuya’s face twitched with the effort to hold back a laugh. “Oh, I see. And here I thought it was something serious.”

Well, it kind of was. Aio had clearly told somebody else about that time in the library, and… unless Seichi was some kind of mind reader, someone saw him and Byakuya in the alley that night. 

That last thought made the blood drain from Renji’s face. 

_Kiss my feet…._

“Renji?”

Renji blinked back the memory. “Oh… uh… what? Did you… were you saying something, sir?”

Byakuya looked disappointed. He set his tea bowl down on his desk, long fingers trailing seductively along the rim. “I realize I’m no good at this sort of thing, and the request was inappropriate considering that you’re on duty. But, you do have a bit of food just there,” Byakuya’s fingers went up to stroke the bottom of his lip and chin.

“Oh, you… you did ask me to kiss you,” Renji said, resisting the urge to wipe the food from his mouth with his sleeve. “Oh… I, yeah, that’d be… um, nice.”

Ugh, why did that last bit come out sounding like a question?

Byakuya tossed Renji the warm towel and picked up his tea. He glanced away, “Indeed? However, the moment seems to have slipped from us.”

Renji managed to catch the wet towel without spilling the remains of his ochazuke. After cleaning off his mouth and chin, he set the towel on the floor. He folded it a little, feeling oddly grateful that Byakuya didn’t push the whole kissing thing. It wasn’t that Renji wouldn’t enjoy Byakuya’s tongue cleaning him up, but… it was this office and there was the haori and the kenseikan and the fact that every time those things got mixed up with the sex it ended badly… or at least awkwardly.

Not that they could ever entirely get away from the captain/lieutenant thing, but a few tiny little uncrossed lines helped.

Otherwise, things were way too much like Seichi thought they were.

Byakuya finished his tea and set the bowl down again. With a soft sigh, he set aside the tea things and returned to his papers. “Will you attempt to have an uneventful rest of the day, Renji? I would very much like our dinner to be a more relaxed affair.”

“I’ll do my best, sir,” Renji agreed with a little laugh. When Byakuya said nothing more, Renji figured that was his cue to get back to work. He set his empty bowl on the tea tray and picked it up to take with him. 

At the door, Renji paused. He should probably apologize for being such a space case and blowing off Byakuya’s advances, but Byakuya had stopped paying attention to him. His focus was entirely on whatever was on his desk, which kind of sucked because Renji was sure the captain was still hurting about this whole fuck-up with his cousin.

They should also probably strategize about when they were going to go after Miisho and figure out if they wanted to say anything to the Division about the deserters, but Byakuya didn’t even glance up as Renji continued to hesitate at the threshold.

Probably Byakuya needed his alone time.

Yet, Byakuya had wanted a kiss, but Renji’d gone and screwed that up--so, probably best to leave him to his work, “Right, see you tonight, then.”

Nothing. Not even a nod.

Renji bowed, anyway, and shut the door behind him.

#

When Renji deposited the tray in the kitchen, he felt eyes tracking him. Was that a judging glance the dishwasher gave him under her lashes? She certainly looked away from him fast enough. 

Miki always seemed to flush a little at the sight of him. He’d always taken that for affection and maybe even attraction, but now Renji couldn’t help but wonder if she was imagining him bending over for Byakuya.

He dropped the tray near the sink and took off before anyone tried to talk to him. 

#

Miraculously, Renji got back to the office in time to relieve Nanako and brief the Fifth Seat on the situation over at the estate. Nanako hung around to hear the details. “Yeah, so, apparently we got a couple of AWOL soldiers,” Renji finished with a barely repressed growl. “Who the fuck are they, anyway? I never did get that out of the captain.”

Nanako and the Fifth Seat exchanged glances. Even though she was supposed to be done for the day, Nanako hustled over to the file cabinets and started digging through the unseated jackets. “The captain must have assigned them personally,” she muttered.

“Well, one of us was on duty,” the Fifth said. “I didn’t sign anyone out. Does the Sixth Seat know to flag the files?”

Seriously? This was going to get further FUBARed by the lack of decent paperwork procedures? 

But, luckily, Nanako pulled out two files triumphantly. Each had a red sticky flag sticking out of them. “It’s got to be them,” she said, “Everyone else is accounted for.”

Well, thank fate for small miracles, Renji thought taking the files from her. He handed one of them to the Fifth Seat. “Pull up a chair,” Renji told the guy, “We’re looking for a couple of things. A clue as to why someone might be stupid enough to run off and, second, a hint about where they might have gone. Maybe they’re in cahoots with the bandit and holed up with him, but I ain’t ruling out the possibility that they freaked out and bolted. If we don’t have to lose these morons, I’d prefer it.”

The Fifth Seat took the chair from the Third’s old desk and wheeled it over to a corner of Renji’s desk. He picked up the file, but before opening it asked, “We’re going after them ourselves? I thought procedure was to report them to the Second… you know, so….”

So the Punishment Squad could hunt them down and kill them, because rogue shinigami were a big, fat no-no out in the Rukongai, even if they were only unseated. “I don’t think the captain wants everyone knowing about this just yet,” Renji cautioned. “If they ain’t with the bandits and we don’t find ‘em quick, we’ll sic the Second on their asses, don’t you worry. I just think if we can handle this in house, we should.”

“Yes, sir,” the Fifth said.

Renji glanced over at him trying to gauge the quality of that ‘yes, sir.’ Was it a ‘yes, sir, but that’s against procedure and I highly disapprove?’ or a ‘yes, sir, I prefer this more humane method, too”? Renji decided that the answer was somewhere in between, but the guy seemed sincere enough about following Renji’s lead in this matter. 

The Fifth Seat was fairly unremarkable looking, and so, for a brief moment, Renji couldn’t remember his name. The Fifth kept his light brown hair trimmed short, though it had a tendency towards unruly curls the moment it got any length. Bits coiled around his ears and at the top of his head. When that did spark anything, Renji surreptitiously glanced at the man’s zanpakuto. 

_Urumaru._ The name came to Renji instantly, along with the smoky incense scent of kido.

Renji never forgot a fellow –maru, this one came with.... hmmmm, Daisuke Something… Chikanatsu, that was it. 

Daisuke. That was a familiar name. Where had Renji heard it before? 

Byakuya had mentioned a Daisuke, hadn’t he? Just this morning, right? He was the spy in the teahouse that Byakuya used as an excuse not to sell the place.

As much as it galled him, Renji should probably remind Byakuya to contact that guy. Stuff must be hopping if Miisho was assuming ownership of the other teahouses and potentially hosting rogue shinigami and bandits carrying Kuchiki loot, including a kidnapped cousin. So maybe the spy might’ve heard something useful. 

Since Renji was craving some head-clearing tea anyway, he pulled himself up. “I’m going to go grab a cup from the break room. You want any?”

The Fifth Seat shook his head, his nose buried, studying the deserter’s file. Nanako walked out with Renji and they said their goodbyes at the break room. Situated as it was, just inside the door of the lieutenant’s office complex, the division used the small room as a gathering place between shifts or just a place to hangout. Tea was always brewing and, especially in the winter, there was a pot of oden, a kind stone soup filled with whatever could be nicked from the mess, bubbling in a crock pot someone had brought back from the Human World.

Renji saw Richiki and asked, “You on duty?”

He looked a little nervous at the question, but said, “Yes, sir!” excitedly. “What can I do for you, sir?”

“I need someone to take a quick message over to the estate to the captain.”

“To the captain?”

Renji wondered if the kid was going to faint from the thrill of it all. “Yeah, just a simple thing. You think you can remember it? I want you to tell him Renji sent you and, if he hasn’t already, maybe he should consider pulling in his spy.”

‘Spy?’ Richiki mouthed. Clearly, he thought this was the best, most super-secret mission ever. His enthusiasm made Renji smile inwardly. 

He nodded, sending the beads in his hair flouncing around his face. “Yes, sir, I can remember that.”

“Good,” Renji said, finally giving into his smile. “Off you go, then.”

“Yes, sir!” and Richiki all but flew out the door.

At least he’d made someone’s day, Renji thought to himself as he got a cup of tea from the pot that was always on in the break room. Glancing around the cozy room, filled with quiet murmurs over games of shoji and go, Renji thought about how different things were here. He’d’ve had to bribe someone to take a message to Kenpachi, because most of them would have looked at him and asked him what was wrong with his feet, he couldn’t go himself. 

Not that anyone ever had much to report to Kenpachi, anyway. 

Nothing at the Eleventh had prepared Renji for this job. It was a miracle he functioned at all as a half-decent lieutenant. The way the Gotei promoted was kind of a stupid system when you thought about it. Someone who knew this Division and how it ran should’ve had the job—you know, seniority or something like that. But, the office couldn’t be filled unless there was someone strong enough to take it.

The Eleventh was going to take all the empty seats, if the Gotei wasn’t careful. It was the only place that seemed to have strength to spare.

To think Renji and Ikkaku were both strong enough to take a captaincy? It kind of boggled the mind. Neither of them knew jack about running a Division. Luckily, they were both too loyal to their respective captains to ever consider it.

It was kind of amazing no one from the Eleventh had taken up Ukitake’s empty lieutenancy, but, then again, he never opened it. Plus, it seemed clear that the guy was not a good fit for someone from the Eleventh, being sick all the time like he was. Anyway, Captain Ukitake was obviously still mourning Kaien… or culpable in his resurrection—which, frankly, seemed kind of ludicrous to Renji, even if Byakuya thought it might be possible.

Well, the captain knew kido. So maybe something like that wasn’t as insane as it sounded.

It kind of made Renji nervous to think that Ukitake could be involved in this bandit thing, because, while he might be sick from time to time, he was Rukia’s captain, which put her at risk, and despite appearances, Ukitake still came with a lot of power… and Kyouraku at his back.

Those two were a scary combo. 

Speaking of dark alleys, Renji’d never, ever want to meet them two down one….

Renji shook his head and grabbed another bowl of tea before returning to the office. He had to try to keep his promise to Byakuya and make it as uneventful a shift as possible. He had a sinking feeling that was going to be tough.

#

Renji managed it, for the most part, and even talking to Kinjo went better than expected. Renji caught up with the rowdy Seventh Seat when the shift’s zanjutsu practice was breaking up. 

“Look, I’m just saying tone down the dickwadery,” Renji finally snapped after they talked around the problem for a while. “You looking to get transferred? Because I hear they’re low on soldiers over at the Third or the Fifth.”

“I know,” Kinjo said, picking up a bokken off the rack on the dojo’s wall and flipping it around in his hand. “Half of them came here.”

The Sixth’s dojo was another one of those places that made Renji hyper-aware that this was a hereditary Division. Its space was simple… everything was straight and unadorned and somehow completely and perfectly Zen. 

Though, to be fair, it looked almost exactly like every other dojo he’d been in, so Renji had no idea why he felt so differently about it. Yet somehow, there was quality of the air here that was more like a temple than a place to shed blood, sweat, and tears. Though its wooden floor had clearly been polished by hundreds of thousands of years of use, it still managed to exist somewhere aloof from it all. Renji always found himself hushing his voice, as if he’d stepped into a sacred, personal shrine to Byakuya’s ancestors. 

Which maybe it kind of was.

Plus, Renji felt like his usual boisterous, deep booming kiai would bring down the rafters on his head.

Renji preferred to run his drills out in the practice yard because both he and Zabimaru needed the space. But, today, sudden afternoon snow flurries had driven everyone indoors.

Kinjo’s shoulders dropped a little and he sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’ve been gone long enough that maybe I can’t remember why we were fighting, anyways.”

And Renji was going to be gone again. Rukia had sent a note that just said, ‘Tomorrow, with or without you.’

So, Renji nodded and said, “Works for me.”

“I’m pretty sure dickwadery isn’t a word, though, Abarai,” Kinjo teased, giving Renji a little poke in the rib with the tip of the wooden sword.

“You knew what I meant, didn’t you?” Renji said, reaching for one of his own. A good sparring session was just what he needed, so he gestured to an empty space on the busy floor and bowed himself in.

“It’s fucking rude, that mouth on you, Lieutenant,” Kinjo said with a broad grin as he made his own bow and followed.

“Fucking fuck off. And c’mere and let me kick your ass.”

“Try it.”

People always forgot that there was a reason Renji graduated top of his class at the Academy. Plus, half a century of pounding in the Eleventh put a lot of raw power into each precision blow.

The crack of wood resounded against the rafters, followed by Renji’s charging kiai.

Kinjo was slapping the floor in defeat in less than three minutes. But the entire group that had been at practice who had stopped to watch, now applauded. A woman with electric blue eyes and black spiky hair—their Sixth Seat?--grabbed a bokken off the wall and bravely shouted, “Me next!”

Heh.

Now this… yeah, finally the dojo felt right, like he might belong here, after all. 

Dropping in to fighting stance, Renji waved her forward with, “Iza!”

He could feel himself grinning sharply.

Renji’s day was finally turning around.

#

Watching the snow steam off his shoulders as he made the dash across the quad to the captain’s quarters, Renji wondered if maybe he should’ve quit a bit earlier and tried to get a shower in before seeing the captain.

Well, it was too late now. Besides, he felt great. The various challenges at the dojo had been a lot of fun. And, until someone had jokingly suggested kido, Renji had remained the undefeated champion. 

Heh, top dog, even.

At the familiar door, Renji kicked off his sandals and knocked. Byakuya’s voice beckoned him inside with a slightly grumpy, “Don't stand out in the snow, Renji.”

“Your day didn’t get any better, eh, Taicho?” Renji asked, slipping his head inside to check the scene out before stepping all the way inside.

The view that greeted Renji was incredibly nostalgic. Byakuya sat at his dressing table, brushing out his hair. The kenseikan and wildflower scarf were off and stored away; the haori and Senbonzakura hung on their places on the wall. He wore a simple dark blue sleeping kimono, decorated with white swans bursting into flight.

And the bed--the one Renji had always so desperately wanted to have a part of to call his own—had the covers turned down on both sides, ready for them both.

Renji paused at that sight, torn between deep pleasure and regret. The pleasure came from the simplicity of the fact that Byakuya expected him there and had made him welcome, and regret because… well, fuck if he hadn’t told Seichi he’d be back tonight.

Now what was he going to do? Of course, Byakuya expected Renji to stay the night, why wouldn’t he? But… when Renji’d delivered another tray from the mess and explained his dinner plans, Seichi had been all weird again, telling Renji not to worry if he needed to stay with the captain.

Renji’d been feeling so good after sparring at the dojo, he’d just laughed and waved Seichi’s worry off with a ‘don’t be an idiot.’

Fuck. Way to make things awkward, Seich’.

“You’re letting out all the heat, Renji.” Byakuya snipped.

“Oh, right, sorry,” he said. Finally stepping all the way inside, Renji closed the door and shook the snow from his topknot. 

“Just take it down,” Byakuya said with a glance up at Renji’s hair. “I’m cold. I want to eat in bed.”

Okay, so Byakuya’s commanding, snappish mood wasn’t helping the awkward much, but Renji reached up. In a second, he’d undone his bandana and pulled loose the hair tie. His sweat made his unruly hair stick up even more than usual. Running his fingers through it a few times, he managed to get it mostly under control. Renji pulled Zabimaru from his hip and placed the zanpakuto in its usual spot against the wall, just as there was a knock at the door.

“Have them bring it to the foot of the bed,” Byakuya said, already crawling under the covers.

Renji slid open the door to find Aio kneeling in the light dusting of snow that that drifted in under the roof of the portico. When their eyes met, Renji felt his face flush deep crimson. She dropped her gaze immediately and her voice quaked out a feeble, “Your dinner, my lord.”

“He wants it by the bed, Aio,” Renji said softly.

Her mouth made a little ‘o’ but she hopped up to do Byakuya’s bidding. She scrambled past Renji without another glance. 

Byakuya was busy making them a nest. He’d pulled the folded sheets out from where they’d been tucked into the corners, so they could lay the opposite way on the bed and still be underneath the blankets. Aio set down her tray and made a lot of bows that Byakuya acknowledged with, “Thank you, Aio. That’s all. Be sure we’re not disturbed.”

Automatically, she glanced at Renji, her cheeks ablaze, but nodded vigorously, “Yes, my lord.”

Aio had barely bowed all the way out the door when Byakuya said, “Get out of those wet clothes and come join me.”

Of course Aio looked at Renji again before quickly sliding the door shut. Renji frowned at the closed door and started tugging at his obi. “Ain’t you being a little, I don’t know, ‘incautious?’”

“What?” Byakuya asked from where he was lying on his stomach with nothing but his head peeking out from the covers where it hung over the edge of the low futon. He paused, lifting the stopper of the sake to sniff it. “What are you talking about, Renji?”

“The servants,” Renji said, hooking his thumb in the direction Aio had gone, “They already talk about us, you know.”

Byakuya looked shocked at the idea. “My people? What do they say?”

It was almost too much. Like Byakuya didn’t know, Mr. Let-me-set-up-this-scenario-so-we’ll-be-discovered-oh-and-it’s-not-enough-that-you’re-on-your-knees-sucking-my-dick-here-wear-this-collar-while-I-hold-the-leash. 

But, as tempting as it was, Renji couldn’t say that because, fuck, if he hadn’t negotiated that one right down to the angle of viewing. And if Renji didn’t want people to know about his little humiliation kink, he probably shouldn’t have done all that stuff in the sento, now should he? 

So, instead, Renji let his hakama fall to the floor with a shrug. “Nothing,” he said. “Forget it, it isn’t important.”

Byakuya glanced up, an odd sort of smile on his lips. He poured himself a bowl of sake and another one for Renji. “It ‘isn’t,’ is it?”

“No, it ain’t,” Renji repeated untying his kosode. He stopped to give Byakuya a lift of his eyebrow. “Wait, I had that right the first time. Oi, don’t mess me up like that!”

“It wasn’t meant as a correction,” Byakuya said with a chuckle. “I’m relieved to hear it isn’t anything.”

There was something Renji wasn’t getting, but he just nodded. “Yeah, it was just something my dumb-ass brother said. I’m getting worked up over nothing.” 

It was probably true. Once he’d talked Seichi around, the rest would settle out in no time. People always gossiped. Renji’d just have to figure out how to prime the pump so they started saying the right things. 

Picking up his pants, Renji tossed them and his damp kosode over the back of Byakuya’s chair. He considered going to bed in the shitagi, but one sniff of the underarm had him shedding that, too. 

Shrugging out of the last of his clothes, Renji dropped the stinky undershirt on the seat of the chair. The Fifth Seat must’ve found something interesting enough to send up the pike, because Renji saw the deserter’s files on Byakuya’s dressing table. Renji had a few thoughts of his own, and flipped through just to double-check a theory he had running.

“Are you coming to bed?” Byakuya mused, after a long moment. “You can bring the files if you want, though I was hoping for a bit of pleasure before business.”

“Huh?” Renji dragged his mind from the file. Looking up, he noticed that for the first time today, he had Byakuya’s undivided attention. He smiled, leaving the files where they were. “Oh, yeah, hey, you never told me about your day.”

“It was horrible,” Byakuya said lightly, taking a sip of his sake, though his gaze never left Renji’s body. His eyes roamed over the lines of the tattoos continuously, like reading and re-reading a favorite book.

As much as he enjoyed being looked at like that, Renji was getting cold. So he sauntered over to the bed, and pulled up the covers to crawl in next to Byakuya. He lay on his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. The mattress sagged under Renji’s weight causing their shoulders to touch briefly. Renji was ready to apologize, but Byakuya seemed to almost lean in to the touch.

“My aunt has spent the day weeping, while her ladies glared at me with red-rimmed eyes,” Byakuya said, sounding tired. “On top of that my cousin’s father felt free to critique my entire captaincy, starting with Hisana’s death.”

“Fuck,” Renji said. “That’s not cool.”

For some reason, that drew a small huff of a laugh from Byakuya. “Indeed. However, I felt it best to hold my tongue. Ironically, I understand the anger of his grief.”

Byakuya sounded so sad that Renji couldn’t help nuzzling his shoulder a little in sympathy. The happy murmur that elicited emboldened Renji to run his fingers through Byakuya’s silken hair and start nibbling on his ear. His tongue darted out to taste the tender flesh of neck….

A cold rush of air, caused Renji to glance up just in time to see the door swish open. “Mr. Byakuya? I’ve come with our spy… oh!”

Byakuya jumped away from Renji so fast, Renji was left licking air. A few of Byakuya’s hairs came away in Renji’s grip. 

Byakuya flashed up to meet Captain Kyouraku where he was coming in the door. He pulled his kimono in order as he all but snarled, “Shunsui! You arrive unannounced. I gave orders not to be disturbed.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” Kyouraku said, sounding far more amused than regretful. “My, my, and here your steward told me you were having a working dinner. Well, well, I must say I do enjoy how you conduct business, Mr. Renji!”

Renji had buried his face in the mattress and only stopped himself from raising a finger in a rude gesture just in time. He turned it into an awkward sort of wave ‘hello.’

Good thing he was into humiliation, eh?

Yet, somehow, he didn’t feel very sexy with his entire body flushing from shame. He slowly scooted backwards as unobtrusively as he could to hide. The problem was he was nearly as tall as the bed. Either his head was going to be sticking out, or his stocking feet. Renji wasn’t sure which looked more ridiculous.

“I don’t understand why you’re here, Shunsui,” Byakuya said. “Exactly what is it you’re doing with Daisuke at this hour?”

“Oh, I didn’t say? Your boy was with me when he received your communiqué. I thought, given your recent troubles, I should escort him through the Seireitei’s back roads.”

Curious, Renji lifted his head at the familiar name. From under the little makeshift hood of the blanket and the curtain of his hair, Renji could see a young man who’d dropped to his knees just outside the door. His head was bowed, so all Renji could really see was yards and yards of silk kimono, spread out around him almost like a woman’s, though far more somber in color. In the dim light, Renji guessed it to be an array of greens and golds—gold, to match that blond mop of hair, no doubt.

Renji had to repress a weird stab of jealousy. 

Pretty little fucker. And nothing at all like Renji’d expected. What little he saw of the boys who worked the teahouses, they were just that—boys. This person had the strong build of a young man… kind of like Ichigo, really.

Did Byakuya find Ichigo attractive? That thought kind of sent Renji’s brain into a tailspin, because--damn, if they were ever seriously looking for a threesome….

“And why was he with you?” Byakuya was demanding.

Kyouraku let out one of his boisterous laughs. “Now, now, Mr. Byakuya, a gentleman shouldn’t kiss and tell.”

“I don't believe that nonsense for a moment,” Byakuya snapped, nearly nose-to-nose with Kyouraku. “Captain Ukitake would never tolerate such misbehavior.”

“Oh, indeed! ‘Tis true, I’m well-known for my restraint around all the pretty young things, am I not, Mr. Renji?”

_Don’t fucking involve me, like I’m one your pretty things._ “With due respect, sir. Fuck off.”

Kyouraku chuckled, but wiped his hands on his kimono like he’d just finished some monumental task that had taken all his energy. “Well, on that pleasant note, I’ll leave you. Daisuke, you have a new master for the evening,” Kyouraku said as, he turned from Byakuya and headed toward the door. “Enjoy yourselves, boys!”

**Author's Note:**

> A cliffhanger! However, I have most of the next installment written. I hope to have it up for you in a matter of days... (please don't kill me in the meantime!)


End file.
